Traditional high calorie lasagna

Who doesn’t love lasagna? It’s high time traditional lasagna got a makeover. Traditional lasagna with pasta, ricotta, and ground beef packs about 750 calories per square with high-glycemic carbohydrates (lasagna noodles) and not very many veggies. Here’s how to load it up with garden fresh zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms while omitting the noodles entirely.

Step One: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and brown a pound of grass-fed ground beef. With the slicing wheel of a food processor, slice 2-3 zucchinis, an eggplant and thick slice a pound of mushrooms. You could also use yellow crookneck or butternut squash depending on what’s in season.

 Step Two: Begin by making a layer of zucchini at the bottom of a large glass baking dish. Then do a layer of eggplant. Then a layer of mushrooms.

 Step Three:  Add your favorite marinara sauce to the browning grass-fed ground beef. I used Trader Joe’s Arrabiata sauce because it’s a little spicy.

 Step Four: Add a ladle of meat sauce atop the zucchini, eggplant, and mushroom layers. Keep building in this fashion until your baking dish is very full.

 Step Five: Add a mozzarella cheese topping only on the very top layer. If you want a Paleo lasagna, or want to cut the calories even more, omit the cheese and just add more garlic and fresh basil in between the layers.

 Step Six: bake at 375 until the cheese is bubbly. When it comes out of the oven, you MUST tip the dish carefully and drain the excess water from the vegetables. Enjoy!

In my search for the perfect zucchini lasagna sans noodles, I read many recipes that suggested using a mandolin or slicing the zucchini in long sheets so it resembles traditional lasagna noodles. Don’t waste your time! This is just as delicious and it doesn’t need to come out in perfect squares. Same goes for drying zucchini slices. Don’t waste your time! Just pour off the excess water and call it a day. This dish takes about 75 minutes from start to finish and will last a few days. It’s incredible with and without cheese. I’ve made it three times already and it’s a keeper!